Life on other Planets? Yes or No?
The answer to this question for me at least is incredibly obvious, especially in light of all the recent astronomical observations of planets around other stars and considering the huge estimated numbers of planets similar to earth in the universe. It's a matter of probability! Thus far of course, scientists have no direct proof of life outside the Earth, but what do people think? Y or N?
3
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
27 comments (26 - 27)
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.(Sorry, I'm definitely violating the keep it short rule. The short answer is I don't honestly know.)
I am educated as a scientist. Sometimes, I would respond: Definitely! But lately I've been questioning this assumption. The problem I have is the Anthropic principle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle).
Because we exist, we report that we exist. Unfortunately, our data on the question of life beyond Earth is limited statistics. Our statistics on life in the universe are exactly unity. You can't do any meaningful statistical analysis on that little data.
From my knowledge of biology (I'm not a biologist, I'm educated as a physicist) I find it extremely unlikely, like .000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 chance that self reproducing RNA spontaneously develop. That means, it is possible that life exists ONLY on the Earth and we "think therefore we are" only because of the Anthropic principle. I want to believe that there is life elsewhere but there exists no evidence.
Yes, the number of possible planets is exceptionally large, still that doesn't mean that life has developed separately from us. It isn't a matter of probability BECAUSE of the Anthropic principle... It is possible that we exist in one of the few universes that we could exist in despite that there are 10^450 other universes. Then it remains possible that we are the unlikely ONLY life form in our universe and perhaps all of the others as well.
This is a depressing thought for me but I can't dismiss it. Has anyone ever seen the movie Melancholia? When the world is facing annihilation, her sister says "certainly there is life on other planets?" the anti-heroin, Justine, who has had prescience throughout the movie, so we have no reason to doubt her, says: "Life is only on the Earth - and not for long." That statement scares the hell out of me but it may be true.
marmot84
Level 7
Dec 31, 2017
0
I think that more information is needed as more observations are made and more good science is done. I find it impossible to accept that we are the only possible life form. Life may come in many forms not just the ones we have seen on earth and are still learning about in the deeper depths of our oceans where there is no sunlight. I agree that it does come down to probability, and it then comes down to good modelling of the things involved.
I would like to believe that there are intelligent lifeforms that we can eventually communicate with and live in peace with, but that is a fantasy without further proof. 
Thanks for replying. For me this is a fascinating topic. Yes, perhaps it comes down to modelling. Currently even with our deep understanding of biochemistry and our immense super-computing capacities we can't come close. I'll have to seek out the reference, but it was scientific and rather convincing.
Don't get me wrong, while many would consider it an argument for the existence of God I do not. My position is that as a scientist, I have learned the hard way that just because I want to believe something is true doesn't make it so.
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
Share this post
Related Groups More
All Things Astronomy
729 members
Categories
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.